History of preseason No. 2’s favor TCU

(The above photo is not an example of gratuitous anything. This is simply a photo of Alabama cheerleaders - the Crimson Tide are a college football team and this blog post is about college football.)

The AP preseason college football rankings mean nothing, but they usually lead to something.

TCU is ranked No. 2 in the preseason college football poll, which looks great and it has the Horned Frogs set up to finish in the top 4 and make the College Football Playoffs. All they have to do is just not lose. At least according to this preseason poll, TCU will play but two ranked teams - No. 4 Baylor in Fort Worth, and No. 19 Oklahoma in Norman. Yes - the AP voters hate the Big 12.

By Week 3, the entire preseason poll will look like garbage but there is a very good chance that by the end of the season TCU will have had a fantastic year.

Looking back at the last 20 preseason Top 25 polls, the team ranked No. 2 has normally done quite well. Six times that team won the national title, and 12 times that No. 2 team finished in the top four. The only real preseason No. 2 dog was Notre Dame in 2006; that team finished the season 17th.

The top four is the new priority now; make the top four and TCU will qualify for the college football playoffs. Of course, the AP rankings are not the College Football Playoff rankings, but it’s at least a decent indicator of how things should go.

A look back at the last 20 teams that were ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll.